1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for use in browsers, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for managing a hierarchy of lists and places within a browser using graphical user interface (GUI) controls on the screens of computer systems.
2. Background
Today, ever increasing numbers of personal computers are linked to each other through high speed data networks. The most popular network currently is the "Internet," which is the network comprising various business, academic, and personal computer sites across the globe. The popularity of the Internet, and, more particularly, that aspect of the Internet referred to as the "World Wide Web," has prompted many organizations to form internal computer networks, which are often referred to as "intranets."
The attractiveness of the World Wide Web stems in part from its highly visual character. Typically, the World Wide Web is organized into various information sites, or "web sites," which typically comprise a server that transmits data to a client computer running a "browser." The browser is software that provides a user with a window and various controls through which data from the server can be viewed and navigated. Generally, the browser includes a graphical user interface through which a user can select and view various information sites. Through the use of browsers, users can quickly navigate from one document to another and even from one information site to another using simple intuitive commands such as the activation of a mouse button. The many browsers which are available include HotJava.TM. (available commercially from Sun Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif.), Netscape Navigator 3.0 (available commercially from Netscape Communications Corporation of Mountain View, Calif.), and Microsoft Explorer (available commercially from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.).
Many browsers provide the capability to locally "save," or otherwise earmark, addresses, e.g., Universal Reference Language (URL) addresses, for information sites such that the information sites can be readily accessible to a user. In other words, most browsers provide users with the utility to maintain a set of addresses which can be used to enable users to quickly sort, identify, select and view certain information sites. By way of example, Netscape Navigator 3.0 includes a "bookmark" utility that enables users to maintain a set of addresses which can be readily accessed.
The ability to locally save addresses for information sites which are of particular interest to a user is convenient, and eliminates both the need to manually enter an address into a browser interface and/or once again locate an information site when access to that information site is desired. As such, many users have a tendency to save large numbers of addresses for future access. Generally, it is difficult to efficiently organize saved addresses, as the capability to locally save addresses does not typically include any capability to create multiple hierarchical organizational structures. At the root level, e.g., the highest level of the organizational structure, provisions are made such that only a single listing can be implemented. In other words, addresses can typically only be organized within a single listing at the root level. While some browsers provide the capability for organizing addresses into nested folders and adding the names of the folders into the single listing, the use of nested folders in a single listing is non-intuitive and difficult to manage. For example, if a large number of addresses is saved, it can be difficult to locate a single address, or a group of related addresses, if a series of folders must first be identified, opened, and displayed in order to find the desired address, or if an extensive listing of addresses must be perused in order to locate the desired address.
Further, the capability to sort saved addresses, when available, does not typically enable a user to perform any type of sorting other than alphabetical sorting from "A" through "Z." While the alphabetical sorting of saved addresses can be useful, in some cases, the ability to flexibly manage the sorting of addresses, e.g., being able to sort addresses based on criteria other than the alphabet, can also be useful. For example, in the event that a user has forgotten the name of an information site but has other data, e.g., data pertaining to the frequency of his visits to the information site, alphabetically sorting saved addresses does not greatly facilitate the identification of the address which corresponds to the information site in question, but sorting by visitation frequency would be useful.
Therefore, what is desired is a method and an apparatus for creating a hierarchical structure of addresses which are locally saved within a browser environment, and a method and an apparatus for managing the hierarchical structure.